The Very Best
by MP009
Summary: Ash is an aspiring Pokemon trainer who wants to be the best. But there are many people against him, and his journey certainly won't be easy. And it's all linked back to Ash's mysterious father. Can he train up his Pokemon in a single year and take on the Indigo league? And just who is his father? Find out in The Very Best. Pairing undecided.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

"And the simulator battle between Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak has begun. We will take a look at both teams momentarily," the announcer stated.

Ash confidently twisted his cap to the back of his head and put his hands near his control panel. It was go time.

"It seems that Ash has a Terrakion, Kyurem-B, Keldeo, Blissey, Celebi, and a Starmie to round things up. It seems to me to be quite the balanced team, though I do see a few potential flaws. No matter, let's go over to see what pokemon Gary's bringing out in this matchup." said the excited announcer.

"And Gary's got a Jirachi, Magnezone, Tyranitar, Gliscor, Jellicent, and another Starmie on his team too." he said. "Bill, what do you think about Gary's team?"

"Well, to me it seems to be a relatively unbalanced team, carrying a bunch of weaknesses. I can't possibly see why Gary would carry this team. It does look like he's lucked out though; there isn't a fire type on Ash's team, and he has no hard counters to Jirachi, Magnezone, Jellicent, Gliscor, or Starmie. I mean his Celebi kinda counts, but we don't know what set he's running. Ash doesn't seem to be in good shape for this matchup." Bill said. "What about you, Mike?"

"Well, we can't count Ash out yet. His Terrakion can kinda counter Magnezone, and Kyurem's a monster on the field to anything that doesn't resist it. We'll just have to wait this one out." the original announcer said.

Ash grit his teeth. Gary's pokemon were devestating to his team. Steel type moves were his weakness, but he thought that since it wasn't a very powerful attacking type, he could ignore it. Gary's pokemon were full of powerful steel moves. Ash was just glad that Gary didn't bring out a Scizor; those were particularly devestating to his team.

The pokemon battle simulator was a tool used to develop up and coming trainers in the art of pokemon battling. Essentially, they had to develop skills and strategies necessary to pass the training license test. Each aspiring trainer would have to come up with a team, and battle with it against a stock team built by the examiners. All of the pokemon used had to be "OU or under", OU meaning overused. That meant that certain pokemon, such as Rayquaza, could not be used.

Ash had already acquired his pokemon license, considering the test to be a joke for him, but Professor Oak, Gary's grandfather, was offering a little prize to whoever won the simulator matchup. There were four starting trainers from Pallet town that year: Ash, Gary, Leaf Green, and Jared Cooper. Ash had knocked out Leaf in the preliminaries, in a fairly easy match, and Gary had defeated Jared. There were only three standard starter pokemon of the Kanto region: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle, and Professor Oak only had one of each. This meant that someone got a different pokemon. So Professor Oak had put together this little competition to see which trainer got the special Pokemon. And Ash was determined to make himself that trainer.

Unfortunately, Professor Oak hated him. Ash didn't really understand why: perhaps it was because he was the only trainer who posed a threat to Gary, or it could be something his father did. Perhaps it was both. Ash never got to meet his father; he died before Ash was born. But Ash knew that his father was a good man.

Regardless, Ash had to win this match. All of Pallet had come to witness this brilliant showdown, and he could not stand to lose to Gary.

Gary considered himself Ash's "rival". Ash did not really consider Gary in the same way. Ash considered himself to be far superior to Gary in every definition of the word. Gary was annoying, sycophantic, and arrogant at the same time. It did not matter that his grandfather had bought him a car, nor did it matter that he had many fangirls (not by his own merit, by the nature of who his father, Red Oak, was). Ash had met Red once, and had talked to the man about his son. Red claimed that he had no interest in his son, and that he would undoubtedly fail in his quest to becoming a Pokemon master.

Ash turned his attention back to his screen. He was situated on a podium, with his MacBook Pro, facing toward Gary, who was on his computer as well. Both computers were linked to the central monitoring system, where the battle was being projected on the big screen, inside Pallet Town's only movie theater. Bill Mallon and Michael O'Neil, ex-pokemon trainers from Pallet, were commentating on the match.

Ash knew that he was allowed to switch the order of his pokemon, and thought he'd have the best advantage with Keldeo. Keldeo was choice-scarfed, which meant that it could move much faster than it would normally be able to, but it would be locked into one move after the turn. The thing was that his Keldeo was unique, as it contained a set of his own creation that would gel well with the rest of his team. Keldeo knew hidden power fire, which was not carried often on a Keldeo. This would be super effective against Jirachi, which was part steel- part psychic.

"And both trainers have selected their starting pokemon. Ash has gone with his Keldeo, while Gary chose his Jirachi. It seems like it's a bad matchup for Ash." the announcer said.

Ash sighed as he decided that the only thing he could do would be to sacrifice Keldeo in return for destroying Jirachi. He clicked on Hidden Power for his attack.

"And Keldeo goes first with a Hidden Power. It's super effective, which means that it's either fire or ground, and it does 54% damage on Jirachi." the announcer said. "Jirachi retaliates with a powerful Zen Headbutt, doing 84% to Keldeo."

The battle went on, and Ash lost his Keldeo to Jirachi, leaving Jirachi with very little health. Ash switched in his Starmie, but Gary just switched in his Magnezone. It seemed he had an answer to whatever Ash did.

The battle continued, and Ash lost his Starmie to a clever trick by Gary, then his Celebi took out Gary's Jellicent and his Kyurem-B took out the Magnezone. It seemed that the tide had turned, and they were now tied.

Since four pokemon had fainted total, the first in battle break was taken. Ash drank a bottle of water, and poured some over himself before clicking "Ready to play".

"And it seems like both contestants are ready, so let's start the second part of this matchup. But first, a few comments from the analyists." Mike, one of the announcers said.

"Well, here are a few highlights. At first it looked like Gary was going to slaughter Ash, but thanks to a timely paralysis, Ash's Kyurem was able to take out Gary's Magnezone. And Ash's Celebi seems to be on fire today." said Bob.

"Actually, that would be terrible, as it is a grass pokemon we're talking about." Mike said.

"Of course. Anyways, offensive Celebi sets are rather rare, especially ones that don't use Nasty Plot, one of the best set-up moves. However, this seems to work rather well." said Bob.

"Yes, it was able to take out a Jellicent, one of the sturdiest walls of all pokemon."

"And now, we will return to the match. Remember, the next break will be taken when eight pokemon of either side have fainted." said Mike.

"Let's do this," Ash said.

Since Ash's Kyurem was already out, Gary got to pick which pokemon to go with, and he chose to lead Tyranitar. Unfortunately, Kyurem was confused, and Ash thought it wouldn't be wise to risk it. He decided to send out Celebi.

The battle continued with both Celebi and Tyranitar fainting, leaving both with three pokemon a piece. He sent out his Kyurem, and Gary sent out his almost dead Jirachi. Knowing it would be easy to bring down, Ash attempted to attack Jirachi. Unfortunately, an untimely flinch lead to Kyurem fainting.

Ash then sent out his Terrakion, a powerful pokemon in every definition of the word. A Close Combat lead to Jirachi's fainting, ending the second part of the match.

The break went past very quickly, and both players quickly went back at it. Ash's Terrakion was still out, so Gary responded with his Starmie. Ash sent out his Blissey as a response, and was able to stall out to Starmie's fainting. Then, he was able to land some quick damage on Gary's last pokemon, a Gliscor, before his own Blissey fainted.

It was now or never. Ash sent out his Terrakion, and hoped - prayed to Arceus that his Terrakion would be able to destroy Gary's Gliscor in one hit. The pokemon was at 50% damage, but was still hard to defeat. He nervously clicked on the button for Stone Edge, and expected the worst.

What he saw next on the screen made Ash scream out "yes" and punch his fist in the air. He had done it! His Terrakion was able to take down Gary's Gliscor in one hit. Fuming, Gary smashed his screen, and refused to come down to shake Ash's hand. Ash had known Gary for a long time, and knew that he usually wasn't this bitter about a loss. Checking it off to Gary just being Gary, Ash went up front to claim his award: a Pokemon.

"Very well done, Ash," Professor Oak said, smiling, though the smile didn't quite reach his hard eyes. Ash could tell that Oak thought there was something wrong with him, and really did not want to give him a special Pokemon. "Although this victory was just on a simulator, and battle simulators say absolutely nothing about the potential of a Pokemon trainer, you really did a good job, Ash," Oak said.

Ash growled. Of course Oak was going to try to take this one away from him.

"Of course, there were many, many things that you could have done better. You could have let Keldeo or Starmie survive, which would have given you a powerful threat to use against Gliscor. But you won, and that's that." said Oak.

The crowd was watching, puzzled. Why was Oak being so harsh to a fifteen year old teenager? There were many adults who could not play as well as he could. Simulator battling was a popular game, and it was followed almost as heavily as real Pokemon battling was. The myriad of different strategies and combinations allowed for a different sort of experience than regular Pokemon battling.

"And now, your prize will be a unique starter Pokemon. I can guarantee you that it can't be found wild anywhere in Kanto. Without further ado, your starter: Torchic." Oak exclaimed.

"Huh?" Ash said. Of course he knew what a Torchic was; he wasn't that out of it. But for all the hype that Oak made it out to be, Torchic wasn't that special a Pokemon. It was given to a third of the trainers that started out in the Hoenn region, and was analogous to Charmander. Torchic wasn't a bad Pokemon, but Ash was expecting a rare dragon type like Dratini, or maybe a Zoura or a Riolu.

Then again, Blaziken did have the unlockable but coveted Speed Boost ability. Ash knew that it would be hard, but he hoped that he could train his Torchic enough to gain access to the ability.

Speed Boost allowed a Pokemon to gain speed progressively as the match went on. This allowed for faster motion which lead to increased evasion and faster attacks.

The crowed was similarly puzzled. Pallet town was not isolated from the rest of the world; they knew what the Hoenn starters were. Oak must have had his reasons, of course, but everyone wondered why he would simply give a Hoenn starter pokemon.

"Go on, you've earned it," Oak said, tossing a Poke-ball to Ash. "As for you three, I'll be giving you your starters in the lab right now. Show's over, everyone."

Ash was quite frustrated. He was certain that if Gary had won, he would have received a different Pokemon. Oak was required by law to provide each aspring trainer with a starter Pokemon and a Pokedex or risk losing his professorial license, but Ash was going to pick a different professor as his starting professor. Maybe Professor Elm would be interested.

Ash kicked a rock forward as he sullenly walked back to his house, when he realized that he really had nothing to be sad about. It didn't matter that he didn't get a crazy powerful starter pokemon. Torchic was awesome in its own rights, and Ash would make do with what he had.

But first, Ash needed to find out what Pokemon he would have gotten from Oak. And to do that, he needed a bit of eavesdropping.

Ash crept near the Pokemon laboratory of Pallet toen, and hid inside one of the many bushes. He was not too late, for he saw Leaf and Jared walk out of the Pokemon lab, leaving the door open. He left it open just a bit, and pressed his ear to the door. As it turned out, he needn't have bothered, because Oak was mad enough to yell.

"HOW COULD YOU LOSE?" Oak yelled at his grandson.

"I'm sorry," Gary said.

"Sorry? I showed you his entire team. How is it possible that he beat you. You made me look foolish in front of all of Pallet town." Oak said.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry gramps," Gary said. "Don't worry, you said it yourself, just because he's good at that stupid computer game doesn't mean he's a good trainer."

"I was lying, you daft dimwit," Oak said. "The program was designed to test the strategy creation of potential trainers. Ash is quite gifted, just like his father. That's why I had to stick on him the unruly starter Pokemon."

"Unruly?" Gary asked.

"Oh yes," Oak said. "That Torchic I gave him does not take very well to be commanded. You know as well as I do what Ash's father has done to us. That lousy, no good, son of a ... gun."

"Of course. And Ash is no better," Gary said.

"Well it's a good thing I didn't give him this. This Pokemon that I have in this ball is a product of years of artificial selection. It was bred to be powerful but docile, and is extremely rare. Here you go, Gary." Oak said, presumably handing him a Poke-ball.

Ash was shocked. There was a better Pokemon out there, that was supposed to be his, and Gary cheated. Well fine, if that was going to be how it was, then Ash would just work with what he had. Torchic wouldn't follow him readily, but that meant he had strength in character; strength that Gary's Pokemon certainly wouldn't have. Ash could work with Torchic, and eventually with his Pokemon team to claim victory.

After all, he had to be the very best.

**AN: Alright, let me just explain a few things about this story.**

**1. Gary's dad is Red, Ash's dad is ... you'll find out later.**

**2. Gary's a snob.**

**3. As I've described above, the Pokemon battling that is in the games is considered "simulator battling"**

**4. Trainers can carry with them as many Pokemon as they want, but can only use the required amount in competitive battling.**

**5. Trainers get their licenses at age fifteen instead of ten, because really, would you want to give ten year olds insanely powerful creatures? Yeah, I thought not.**

**6. Ash is smart, both school-smart and street-smart. His mother is poor, and he has a drive to be the best.**

**7. Pairing is to be decided.**

**8. My knowledge of Pokemon mainly comes from the games, and I haven't really watched the anime in about six years, so if there's a problem, please just tell me instead of flaming me. Thank you.**

**And the Pokemon Battle simulated above comes from one of my Pokemon-online battles. If any of you semi-competitive Pokemon players want to rate my ou team, please do. It is as follows:**

Terrakion Salac Berry

Trait: Justified

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

- Close Combat

- Stone Edge

- Swords Dance

- Substitute

Kyurem (Kyurem-B) Choice Band

Trait: Teravolt

EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Outrage

- Stone Edge

- Fusion Bolt

- Shadow Claw

Blissey (F) Leftovers

Trait: Natural Cure

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Seismic Toss

- Stealth Rock

- Softboiled

- Toxic

Keldeo Choice Scarf

Trait: Justified

EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Hydro Pump

- Secret Sword

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Icy Wind

Celebi Life Orb

Trait: Natural Cure

EVs: 56 HP / 252 SAtk / 200 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Thunder Wave

- Psychic

- Recover

- Leaf Storm

Starmie Life Orb

Trait: Natural Cure

EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Hydro Pump

- Ice Beam

- Thunderbolt

- Rapid Spin

**Alright, that's all. Enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One: The Journey Begins**

Ash decided to stop home before beginning his journey. He still had yet to see his starter pokemon, Torchic, but he didn't want to start the long process of meeting his Pokemon, talking to him or her, getting it to agree to accompany him on the journey, and slowly develop a trusting relationship without first starting his journey. His home was one of the smaller ones in Pallet, in the lower end. Though Pallet was a small town, and there was only one school, it was easy to tell the rich kids from the not-so-rich ones. Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum, worked hard, but worked at low pay, and they barely had enough to get by.

Gary, of course, was filthy rich. His father, Red Oak, was one of the most publicized trainers in the world, and he was idolized by many of the students at Ash's school, which, of course, trickled down to Gary. Even though many of the kids thought Gary as a douchebag, they realized that he was both rich and powerful, and tried to stay away from his bad side. The fact that Ash did not care what Gary did upset him, and he was constantly trying to get a rise out of Ash. He was Ash's self-proclaimed "rival" though he really didn't do much to get in Ash's way.

At the age of fifteen, all of the students have the choice of what to do with their futures. Though Pokemon training is a highly publicized profession, it is considered almost impossible to rank highly, and is thus not pursued by many individuals. In Ash's year, there were four aspiring Pokemon trainers; most years, there were only one or two from Pallet town. Regardless, most trainers quit within a year. From there, they had a multitude of options, ranging from regular human professions, such as being an engineer or a lawyer, or a Pokemon-related profession, such as a Pokemon healer. It was actually quite easy to heal any Pokemon, assuming of course that they did not have lasting damage. The damage done in simple Pokemon battles could be healed in the matter of minutes through technology developed by the Kanto government, and was commercialized through Pokemon centers, and products such as Potions that were essential to Pokemon training.

Regardless, Ash came back to his small house, and walked inside. Immediately his mother began fussing over him.

"Oh, I heard about your battle with Gary today," she said. "I'm so proud of you, so proud. But to think you'll be going off on your adventure so soon, you have to come and visit some time."

"Oh I will," Ash said.

"Now, I know we don't have a lot, but I put together something for you that'll be useful for you on your journey, and I want you to take it without a fuss, okay Ash," Delia said.

"Okay mom." Ash said.

"Alright, come to the living room then," Delia said. Ash walked forward to the living room and ... saw Pokemon trainer paradise. It was basically everything he needed to be a successful Pokemon trainer. He had a large backpack with enough space for the small tent that came with it, a belt that had space for twenty Pokeballs, a bike, a few Potions, and a few other assorted medicines. This must have cost a small fortune.

"It's all secondhand, of course," Delia said. "But it's all great, I've been saving up for your journey, and I want you to have it."

Ash was speechless. This was the greatest thing anyone had ever done for him. He walked up to his mother, with small tears forming within his eyes, and hugged her deeply.

"Thank you, mom," he said. "And when I become the very best trainer, we're going to buy a mansion, and be richer than Gary Oak. I promise I'll pay you back for all this stuff."

"Oh, this," she said. "There's no payment necessary. I'm happy to do it for my only son."

"Thank you. Well, I should really be going," Ash said.

"Yes, you definitely should," said Delia. She showed him how to pack up the small tent, and fold it into the bag, and showed him the different spaces for Pokeballs and potions. Ash carefully noted everything, and got ready to leave for his journey. It was about noon, and he knew for a fact that Gary would be leaving at one. Of course, he also knew that Gary would be driving, while he would be walking, but that just showed that Gary had no opportunity to train his Pokemon.

So with a deep breath, Ash had taken his first step as a Pokemon trainer, on to route one.

He decided that now would be a good time to release Torchic, and he had an entire speech planned out for the occasion.

He released the Torchic out of the small Pokeball, and immediately noticed that it looked different from your standard Torchic. Ash was no Torchic expert, but it didn't take a fool to realize that the average Torchic was much larger than the one Ash had received. It seemed that Oak had shortchanged Ash yet again with this Torchic mishap.

Ash let out a frustrated groan; he couldn't get anything, could he. Not money, not cars, not even a dad. And now this was his newest failure. A tiny Torchic.

It seemed that Torchic had picked up on Ash's judgement of him, and the bird-like Pokemon seemed to be bristled. Before Ash knew it, a powerful Ember attack headed his way. This Torchic was out for blood. Ash quickly dodged, and this seemed to pacify the Torchic for a bit.

"Hmm, maybe I misjudged you," Ash said. "You're just like me. At first glance, you're worthless. I mean I'm poor, don't listen to the powerful and the rich, you're small and apparently unruly. But see, people like us have gotta work together. We're not going to be able to take down the powerful people alone, right. So, what do you say. Wanna come with me on a Pokemon journey?"

Torchic looked at Ash, then looked away, folding his arm-like appendages and shaking his head. Ash sighed - this was not going to be easy.

"Aww, come on Torchic. You don't even know me." Ash said.

Torchic again turned away in anger.

"Well alright then, fine. Who else is going to train you anyways. You know, you're a pathetic Pokemon. Not only are you tiny and weak, but you're also stubborn. Hell, you can't even listen properly." Ash yelled.

Torchic turned around and glared at him before attacking with what Ash considered to be some sort of a fire type move. Large flames were emitted by the fire-pokemon, in a move that Ash thought was extremely powerful. They managed to catch on his jacket, and Ash quickly put them out, thus ruining his clothes.

"Alright, fine. You might be a little powerful, but that doesn't mean that you're not a douche. Well, come on, we have to get to Viridian by nightfall, and I don't want to sleep on the ground, so we've gotta get a room at the Pokemon center." Ash said.

Torchic refused to move.

"Well then fine. You're not going to get any food then, are you," Ash asked.

Torchic seemed intrigued now. He turned his head toward Ash, and whispered "Tor?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'll just eat all your Poke-food." Ash said.

"TOR," Torchic yelled.

"That's the spirit. Now come on, we don't have all day." Ash said. He started walking along the trail, without Torchic, because he knew that Torchic would follow him.

Torchic seemed to be weighing his options, before deciding to follow Ash. He was so bribable.

Ash quickly walked toward Viridian. The town was a few miles away, so it would be good training for Torchic to battle a couple of wild Pokemon along the way. He stopped and allowed Torchic to catch up with him.

Ash knew that many beginning trainers would foolishly attempt to catch as many Pokemon as possible. He also knew that many of the Pokemon that could be found early on, were really not that powerful even in their final evolution states. Even the strongest Pidgeys or Rattatas would pale in comparison to other, stronger Pokemon, and even the few Pikachu that could be found along the early routes weren't too strong either. Ash was going for a team of about fifteen to twenty Pokemon overall, and he was planning on only catching a few originally from Kanto. He knew which Pokemon were on his yes list, and those that were on his no list too. He wanted a Scyther, so that he could evolve it to a Scizor, a Dratini if he could find one, a Chansey from the Safari Zone, an Eevee to evolve to Vaporeon, Espeon, or Jolteon. He might get a few others if he could find them, but Ash thought it was rather unlikely. For now, he'd just work with Torchic to see what he could do.

"So Torchic," Ash said gently. "Are you willing to come with me on my journey?" he asked.

Torchic seemed to be thinking about it for a couple of seconds. It would hurt his pride to accept Ash as his trainer, but that was the only way he could get larger and stronger. And he wanted to prove everyone wrong for thinking he was a worthless Pokemon. "TOR," he yelled in approval.

"Alright then, we've got to start on the trail. Let's go, first break's not till we reach Viridian."

Mainland Kanto was quite small really, but that was to be expected. Pallet Town and Viridian City were eight miles away from each other, and Kanto's diameter was probably a total of only one hundred miles, max. Ash continued to walk along the path from Pallet to Viridian, stopping every few minutes to have Torchic battle a wild Pokemon. There were mainly small Ratattas in the bushes, with a few Pidgey's and Sparrow's here and there, and Torchic's powerful Embers allowed it to tear through the wild Pokemon. Torchic seemed willing to work with Ash, even though it was a bit prideful, and Ash thought it was the beginning of a strong friendship.

About four miles in, Ash decided to stop at a small stream to refresh himself. He had kept Torchic out of his Poke-ball, as Torchic did not want to be confined into the small space, and let him wander around as he filled up his water bottle from the stream. Carefully adding the required amount of iodine, and then adding a filter to the top of his water bottle, Ash replenished his water supply. He reached into his backpack to take out one the sandwiches that his mom had packed for him, and started looking around for Torchic. He immediately spotted the Pokemon, and it seemed he had gotten into an altercation with a couple of Spearows. Ash decided to let Torchic handle this one, as there were only three, and he was confident in Torchic's abilities.

This proved to be a mistake. Without Ash's guidance, Torchic was incapable of battling well on his own. He required a series of instructions to go against three opponents at the same time, and while he did win the fight, he was badly injured afterwards, with the three Spearows fainting.

Ash quickly rushed over and took a look at Torchic. He seemed to be extremely tired, and injured as well. Ash quickly took out a Potion from his backpack and sprayed it over Torchic. It helped, but not enough. Ash knew that Torchic was going to be alright, but he would not be able to battle, and had to be taken to the Pokemon center immediately. Unfortunately, he was perfectly half-way between Viridian City and Pallet Town, which meant that the nearest Pokemon center would be pretty far off.

Ash ran along the stream and noticed that it grew bigger and bigger, with its current going faster and faster, slowly becoming a river instead of a stream. Ash knew that there were few Pokemon near the river, and he did not want to be attacked by one. Besides, the few bird pokemon and Ratattas would scurry along rather than fight him, so he just wanted to make it to Viridian as quickly as possible. He could train Torchic later.

Ash stopped running, and slowed to a simple walking pace as he went along the river. It was best that he conserved his strength; after all, he did need to make it to Viridian.

Stopping for a drink of water from his water bottle, Ash noticed a dark figure swimming through the water. Ash was fairly sure that it was a Pokemon, but he was curious as to what Pokemon it was.

He shouldn't have asked.

The Pokemon jumped out of the water, revealing one of the most powerful and dangerous Pokemon in the world. It was easily recognizable as a Gyarados. Of course, Ash being Ash, felt he had a need to capture the powerful water type Pokemon.

He had been given a few Poke-balls from Professor Oak as a part of the obligations of a Pokemon professor to an upcoming Pokemon trainer. Ash decided thatt he would use one to try to capture this Gyarados. But first, the Pokemon had to be weakened.

How could Ash do that? His Torchic was wounded, and he did not want to risk it being hurt by the mighty Gyarados.

Ash didn't have time to answer his tentative question as the powerful Gyarados let out a deep roar at him. He decided that there was no way he could capture this enormous beast, as he was far too inexperienced, and decided to run for it.

One thing that Ash did not know about Gyarados was that it was capable of slithering on land just as easily as it could function in the water. And the Gyarados made chase toward Ash. Ash did not know why; what could a Gyarados want from him? To eat him? Pokemon usually weren't hostile to humans, and he had never heard of a case of a Pokemon eating a human. Whatever it was that Gyarados wanted from him, Ash didn't want to find out. He ran as fast as he could away from the powerful Pokemon.

Ash turned backwards, and immediately was further frightened; the Gyarados was gaining on him. He supposed that the Gyarados did not want him encroaching on its territory; that was probably why it was chasing him. But regardless, Ash decided that his only option was to attempt to catch the rowdy Pokemon. He knew that his odds were at best one in a hundred, but he hoped that the Gyarados could be caught.

Ash threw his Poke-ball as hard as he could at the extremely large beast. The Poke-ball turned three times, then stopped. Gyarados had been caught.

Ash let out an immediate sigh of relief as he bent over to pick up the Poke-ball that contained the enormous beast. He was not going to try to release Gyarados for a while- he wasn't suicidal. He kept it safe in his backpack, instead of on his belt, as Ash recognized that he probably wasn't experienced enough to use Gyarados at the moment. He definitely wasn't going to register this Pokemon in his Poke-dex; it was linked to Professor Oak still, and

Ash made his way back to the main route from Pallet to Viridian and continued walking. In two hours, he had reached Viridian. Ash quickly rushed into the Pokemon center, and asked for the nurse to heal his Pokemon. Pokemon training was heavily subsidized by the government, as it provided immense entertainment for the worldwide residents, and that the government had a monopoly on running tournaments - at least in Kanto. Many of the Pokemon trainers throughout the world were considered above the law, and were asked to help in law-related affairs.

In any event, Ash was given a room to stay in and a bit of food, all for free. He thought it was a pretty good deal.

After receiving his Torchic back, Ash decided to go back to the forest and train. Torchic seemed to be a bit more humble after the Spearrow incident, and he actually listened to Ash instead of just ignoring him. Ash used Torchic against a bunch of wild Pokemon, and was quite pleased with the results. After a while, Torchic learned some new moves as well: Peck, Flame Wheel, and Double Kick, all powerful moves in their own right. He battled two trainers and beat them both, but they were both beginning trainers who each only had one Pokemon. Ash hadn't seen Gary yet, but Gary was probably taking the paved road, so he probably wouldn't have to encounter Gary much. Though Ash did wonder how Gary was planning on training his Pokemon.

But Ash was very pleased with Torchic's progress. He did not dare to release Gyarados; he would do so when Torchic evolved.

Ash headed back up to Viridian to stay at the Pokemon center, his training done for the day. After eating a hearty meal, he left to explore the town.

Ash stayed in Viridian for a couple of days, spending all of his free time training Torchic to a sufficient level. Torchic was now fairly powerful, and would grow to be extremely powerful, despite Oak's statements or his small size. A few evenings later, Ash decided he was going to take a break from training and see what was going on.

Though Ash wasn't very well off, his one point of pride was his MacBook Pro. That was the only expensive item he possessed, and he had won it in a raffle. He was going to sell it, but Ash's mother didn't want him to let go of something that cool. He therefore kept the laptop on him at all times.

It was probably for the better that he did so. For that evening in Viridian, he found a large dome-like structure that seemed to be a Poke-sim battling expo.

Ash didn't have much money on him; he won a hundred bucks each from both of the trainers he faced, and he had five hundred dollars himself, which was about equivalent to three Poke-balls. But this Poke-sim expo would be his ticket to large amounts of money. And he figured that there was no way Gary would turn down a challenge like this. It would be nice to beat Gary yet again.

Ash went to the front counter and signed up for the competition, which was strictly for amateurs only. There was no registration fee, as each individual round had its own betting. Ash was lucky that he made it just in time, as the tournament was limited to sixty-four spots, and Ash was sixty-second. He took a good look at the tournament bracket, and found that Gary would also be competing, as he previously thought. Though Gary was in a different bracket; both would need to make it to the top four to face off against each other.

Ash booted up the Teambuilder software, and selected one of his many teams. It was go time.

He was up against some girl named Caitlin. She seemed pretty cute, but that didn't mean Ash wasn't going to go all out in the match.

After waiting for all of the other preliminary matches to finish, Ash finally got to go against the girl. He twisted his cap to the back of his head, and plugged in his laptop to the screen. There was an initial bet that both had to agree on, and they decided to go with 500 dollars. Ash was fairly confident of his abilities; after all, he was able to defeat Gary.

He breezed through the match easily, only losing two Pokemon to her, then deciding to switch to his B team for future rounds. He quickly rose through the ranks, defeating all of the introductory trainers easily with many different teams, noting with a smirk that Gary had lost in the third round. He was able to win the small tournament, making a total of 6000 dollars off his intelligence and Poke-sim battling experience, and was able to humiliate Gary, who at this point, was sitting in the stands, fuming, with his cheerleaders next to him consoling him. He had started a petty smear technique using Ash's own name during his rounds, saying "Bash on Ash", but it really was not all that witty and did not catch on. As his victory prize, Ash was given a choice of three different unknown Pokemon, each, he was promised, would grow to be exceptionally strong. He picked up one of the balls and placed it onto his belt. Giving the dome one last look, he casually walked back to the Pokemon center excited at the prospect of having high amounts of money - more than he had ever had before. He whistled a merry tune, only to find that Gary was standing in front of the Pokemon center, with his cheerleaders in tow. He stepped up to Ash as he was walking on the sidewalk toward the center.

"Well, well, well, Ash," Gary said. "We meet again."

"Actually, I saw you in that tournament over there," Ash quibbed.

"Ah yes, the Poke-sim tournament. Tell me, did it feel good to finally be good at something. Well you're not even good, you're terrible. You just got lucky." Gary said.

"What do you want, Gary?" Ash asked, frustrated.

"Hmm, what do I want. How about a Pokemon battle? Tell you what, if you can manage to beat me, I'll give you a thousand bucks. You don't have to give me anything when you lose, I'm sure the humiliation will be good enough. Besides, you're too poor to pay me properly." Gary smirked at his own line.

"Alright fine, you're on Gary." Ash said.

"Your Pokemon healed?" Gary asked.

"Yes," Ash said.

"Then let's go," he said, gesturing toward his car. "Hop in, it may be the only time you ever get to ride in one of these things. Ladies, I'll see you later."

"Where are we going?" Ash asked.

"You'll see," Gary said, driving through the streets of Viridian. Viridian City was about two miles wide, and Gary quickly drove to the other end of the small area.

"Well, Ashy-boy. We're here." Gary said, pointing at a small abandoned lot.

'So this was Gary's game,' Ash thought to himself. 'He doesn't want to make a fool out of himself if he loses, yet wants to see what Pokemon I have. Then, next time he challenges me, he'll be able to do it publicly if he thinks he's better than me.'

"Alright, Gary. Let's get this over with." Ash said.

"So, how many Pokemon have ya got?" Gary asked.

"Two. You?" Ash asked.

"Ha. Only two? Really?" Gary snided. "Fine, I'll go easy on you. We'll have a two on two match. Prepare to be amazed."

Ash sighed at Gary's theatrics. "Since we want to keep this fair, why don't we pick which Poke-ball we're going to use before we throw it so that we know no cheating's involved." Gary said. That was, after all, standard procedure.

"Sure," Ash said, clutching his new Pokeball. He knew which Pokemon Gary had, a Squirtle and a Dratini- unless he caught some new ones. He threw his out as Gary threw his as well, hoping that his Pokemon was something good.

"Hahahahah," Gary chortled. "You're planning on beating my Squirtle with that little thing."

Ash confirmed that Gary's Pokemon was indeed a Squirtle before looking down at his own pokemon, which seemed to be ... a Rattata. Great. Now he'd have to lose to Gary.

The Pokemon turned toward him, tilted his head, and winked. Ash didn't know what that meant, but he hoped it was good.

"Okay, go Ratatta, use Tackle." Ash yelled.

The pokemon looked back at him and sighed, before turning back to the Squirtle. Squirtle seemed to be attacking with Water Gun. Ash turned down to look at his Rattata, but it was gone.

"Hey, I thought we were playing by standard rules. No substitutions," Gary yelled from across the field.

Suddenly a dark black blur sped straight into Squirtle, knocking him off his feet. Instead of a Rattata, a dark fox-like Pokemon was standing in front of Ash.

"What the hell is that thing?" Gary said. "You can't have a wild Pokemon fighting your battles. You're obviously just a cheater."

"I didn't cheat," Ash yelled. "I have no idea what happened, but I didn't cheat."

"Oh yeah? Then how did that thing get there? What is it anyways?" Gary asked.

What was that Pokemon? Ash was fairly certain it wasn't common in Kanto, and also probably hadn't seen it before, or he'd definitely remember what it was. Taking out his Pokedex, he scanned the dark Pokemon and was surprised to find that it was a Zoura, a Unovan native.

"Zorua, the Tricky Fox Pokémon. Zorua hides its true form by changing its shape into people and Pokémon, and loves to surprise people." the Poxedex said.

"No way. How'd such a loser like you get your hands on such a rare Pokemon. I bet you stole it," Gary yelled.

"Did not." Ash said.

"Did too. Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'll hand your ass to you with my main Pokemon. Go Dratini." Gary said.

"Zoura, do what you just did before," Ash commanded.

The Pokemon turned back to his trainer then shook his head. Instead of attacking, he stood in place, and let the opposing Pokemon attack him. He fell, and was out of the match.

Predictable. Just when things were starting to go Ash's way, he'd be given an unruly Pokemon. Well, if he couldn't handle it, then nobody could.

"Go Torchic," Ash said throwing down his other Pokeball. Gary had an annoying smirk plastered over his face, Ash knew why, Gary thought his Pokemon was a dud. Well he'd have to prove Gary wrong then.

"Dratini, take care of it," Gary said, pointing to Torchic. Ash growled, and said "Torchic, Double Kick"

What happened next would shock Gary for weeks. As Dratini poised, ready to attack, Ash's seemingly worthless Pokemon lashed out, striking with two powerful kicks, effectively ruining any setup that Dratini had. From there, Torchic didn't let up either. At Ash's command, he made a strong Pecking motion at Dratini and added a Flame Wheel all in one strong combination without even giving Dratini a chance to do anything.

It seemed Gary really underestimated Ash's team.

"Yes!" Ash yelled in victory at Gary's shell-shocked expression. "Pay up."

Gary took a moment to recover than quipped back "Fine, even though that wasn't a real battle, I was going easy on you after all. But you're so poor, I guess you need the money. Smell ya later, loser."

Ash walked back to the Pokemon center, ready to spend the night. He was eager to work with Zoura and Torchic tomorrow, and make them gym ready. From there, he'd travel to Pewter, and then take on the rock gym.

**Further AN:**

**1. If you're wondering where Misty is, she's coming.**

**2. I'm planning a short time-skip to when Ash is in Pewter for the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So anyways, about the anime, as much as I'd like to include all of the episodes, I really don't think I'll have the time. So I'll just gloss over the unimportant ones, and the Team Rocket stuff. Also, I'm making Team Rocket much more realistic.**

It was a week after Ash had finished his battle with Gary, and Ash had finally made it to Pewter City. It wasn't that the journey was long; no, it only took him two days to get through the convoluted Viridian forest. Ash was simply training his Pokemon.

His Zoura at first thought he was more intelligent than Ash, and wouldn't listen to him despite his fervent pleas. This was largely due to their first encounter, as Ash didn't even know what Pokemon he was. Eventually, however, he was able to build some trust with Zoura after he used Torchic to beat his unruly Pokemon, as Zoura like Torchic, respected and seeked power. He knew his Zoura wasn't a bred Pokemon, for it wasn't docile, but it must have had a father in the wild that could transfer on Sucker Punch to him. Zoura also had the Illusion ability, meaning that he could take the form of any Pokemon or even a person, and he often took a human form when he wanted to communicate with Ash. As a result, Ash was better able to communicate with his team. In battles, however, Zoura took the shape of a Ratatta, for two major reasons. The first was that Zoura was a rare Pokemon, and many poachers would want him. But the second was the additional surprise factor that Zoura held. Ash didn't face many battles though, mainly from new trainers who weren't very good. After a few days, Ash left to Pewter City through the Viridian Forest.

During his trip through the Viridian Forest, he was able to find one of the rarest bug Pokemon out there: Scyther. Scyther was not commonly found in the Viridian Forest, and he told Ash (through Zoura's translation) that he had escaped the illegal Poke-trade cartel which had captured him, known as Team Rocket. Scyther said they had an ulterior motive, that they weren't just Pokemon smugglers. Then Ash had his first encounter with the aforementioined Team Rocket, division 424, in the forest. It was a platoon of a man named James, a woman named Jesse, and their talking Meowth. Ash was able to quickly defeat them with Zoura and Torchic, and was able to interrogate them for information about Team Rocket. Apparently, they didn't know much, as they were only grunts, the lowest ranked members of the group. What they did know was that their master, Giovanni, was planning something, something nefariously cruel. They didn't tell Ash this information out of free will, either. Ash could be fairly cruel when he was in power. But he was feeling merciful, so after his victory, he allowed the team to run off, warning that if they encountered a second time, that would be the last time.

And after that, his journey was quite peaceful. He was challenged by an arrogant Samurai halfway through, but his Scyther easily defeated the other two Pokemon. Ash had to admit, Scyther was going to be a useful addition to the team. At this point, Torchic could easily beat both Zoura and Scyther, but the other two Pokemon were catching up. Ash believed that Torchic was close to his first evolution, and he couldn't wait to have a Combusken. He figured that Torchic was probably powerful to learn the Speed Boost ability; after all, he was one of the strongest starters Ash had ever seen.

But this had as much to do with Torchic himself, as it had to do with Ash's training. Ash was a harsh trainer; he only expected the best from his Pokemon. He had all of his Pokemon start with endurance training, and all of his Pokemon wore weights when practicing, so that their movements would be more fluid during the actual battles. Scyther and Zoura usually fought to a standstill, but Ash had to give the edge to Zoura; the only reason Scyther could get that far was because of his type advantage. But Ash didn't have Scyther for long, only for a few days, and he knew Scyther would eventually get incredibly strong.

Eventually, the group made it to Pewter City a week later, and the first person they met in the Pokemon Center was, unsurprisingly, Gary Oak. He was standing near the entrance of the Pokemon Center with his cheerleaders standing behind him, his car parked outside.

"So I see you've just managed to make it out of Viridian, yeah?" Gary said. "I bet you haven't even gotten your first badge."

"What do you want, Gary?" Ash asked, annoyed.

"Oh nothing, nothing. If you call a battle nothing. Ya see, _loser_, unlike you who was probably lost in the forest for a week, I made a beeline to Pewter. After which, I was able to sweep through the first gym, it was pretty easy for me, probably won't be for you. But anyways, after that, I spent some time catching new Pokemon. Guess how many I have?" Gary said.

"I don't care," Ash retorted.

"That's right, I already have twenty species of Pokemon. I bet you still only have two." Gary said.

"Actually, I've got three," Ash said.

"Oh, really," Gary said in a sarcastic voice. "Well, it appears I'm going to have to go easy on you again. Three on three. Let's go."

At that moment, Ash's Pokemon finished being healed, and Ash scooped up the three Pokeballs and put them in his belt. "Okay Gary, you're on."

"Perfect. I know just the place for me to thrash you." Gary said. Ash followed Gary up to an arena at the top floor of the Pokemon center. It seemed that Pewter city's Pokemon center was battle oriented. The stadium was empty, but Gary's cheerleaders followed him up. Gary must have gained a smidgen of confidence.

"Okay, here's how this is gonna work. Three on three battle, no substitutions or your Pokemon's out. Ya ready, twerp." Gary yelled.

"Bring it, dumbass," Ash retorted.

Gary chuckled softly. "We'll see who the dumbass is after this battle. Let's up the stakes. If I win, you pay me 1000 dollars. But if you win, I'll give you five thousand."

Wow, Gary was really feeling confident. Maybe he actually put some effort into training this time.

"Let's go." Ash concluded.

"Alright, pick which Pokemon you're leading, and I don't want any funny business," Gary said.

Ash gripped Scyther's Pokeball as Gary held his. "Ready, set, go," Gary yelled.

Scyther entered the arena brandishing his claws as Gary threw down a Pidgeotto.

"When'd you get a Scyther?" Gary asked.

"When'd you get a Pidgeotto?" Ash asked.

"Touche," Gary said. "Ready?"

"Let's go," Ash yelled.

Ash knew that normally a bug Pokemon would be weak to Flying type moves, however, he had trained Scyther to withstand powerful fire and flying type moves, and Scyther had eventually built up a resistance. While flying type moves were still damaging, it would be better for him to get a leg up while he could than to take the flying move and try to attack back.

"Scyther, swords dance," Ash said.

Scyther responded quickly, spinning his front scythes rapidly, building up attacking power. It was lucky that Gary called on Pidgeotto to use a gust attack, for Scyther was able to blow it away with his swords dance, the blades were moving so quickly, it was like a fan. While it somewhat impacted him, it did not do much damage.

"Scyther, Quick Attack, and follow up with Slash." Ash yelled.

Scyther moved extremely quickly with his scythes still moving, building up power. He struck before Pidgeotto could react, pushing the other Pokemon to the ground, and then, using his sharp spinning scythes, made a slashing motion at the chest cavity of Pidgeotto, and following through repeatedly, allowing the rotational momentum of his spinning scythes to be absorbed into his own body. Once it was obvious that Pidgeotto was out, only then did Scyther relent, retaining the increased attack power provided by the Swords Dance boost.

"Got anything to say about that, Gary?" Ash asked, seeing Gary in a stupor. Gary quickly shook out of it as the cheerleaders attempted to console him.

"Eh, it doesn't matter, she was one of my weaker Pokemon anyways. Now, go Squirtle!" Gary yelled, sending out a new Pokemon.

"Scyther, Bug Buzz," Ash yelled. Scyther was still in prime positioning as he had a swords dance boost and almost no health lost. Squirtle, however, was able to withdraw into his shell just in time before Scyther attacked, thus increasing his defensive capabilities. However, Scyther's attack was able to move the shell of the other Pokemon away from him and back at Gary. Squirtle seemed relatively unharmed, but as Squirtle was coming out of his shell, Ash took the opportunity to give Scyther another Swords Dance boost. Scyther's frontal scythes were spinning again, even more rapidly than before.

"Now Scyther, target Squirtle's underbelly with Slash." Ash yelled. Scyther repeated the same technique as before, only this time, attacking at the underbelly of the opposing Pokemon. Ash knew that the weakest part of a Squirtle is the underbelly, and was able to use that to his advantage, counting Squirtle out of the match.

"Still confident Gary?" Ash asked.

"Eh, Squirtle is one of my weaker ones. I've put in all my effort into training my best Pokemon, so it's understandable that you were able to beat my other two. Now, without further ado, Dratini," Gary yelled, pulling out another Poke-ball.

"Scyther, you know what to do," Ash said. Scyther nodded as he launched into a quick attack with a triple attack boost. It didn't matter what the opposing Pokemon was: a triple attack boost meant that it would be severely damaged. And it's hard for a damaged Pokemon to fight back. Scyther continued with a powerful Bug Buzz, effectively ending the match.

"What? How'd Dratini lose before she could even move?" Gary said. "It's not fair, you must have cheated."

"No, you played a very bad strategy. By allowing Scyther to accumulate so many boosts, you made it very easy for him to defeat your Pokemon." Ash said. "It doesn't matter what the Pokemon or what the move is, with a triple attack boost, it's bound to be powerful. You should have lead with Dratini, or trained up your other Pokemon. But your main problem is that you underestimated me, and underestimating Ash Ketchum is a bad idea."

"Hah!" Gary said. "I never underestimated you. Perhaps I overestimated you, to believe that you haven't been cheating. What, did you get that Scyther from Team Rocket?"

"How do you know about Team Rocket?" Ash asked.

"Those losers tried recruiting me. I turned them down after whooping them in a battle. I'm not one to steal someone else's pokmon, unlike someone I might add." Gary said.

"Who?" Ash asked.

"You. It's obvious you stole that Scyther. You and your father, you're the same." Gary said, then covered his mouth as if he had made a slip.

"My father? How would you know my father?" Ash asked.

"Umm nevermind, I'm gonna go now. I'm heading to Cerulean to take on the second gym. Smell ya, Ash," Gary said as he walked out of the room hurriedly, with his cheerleaders following him, puzzled. How could Gary get thrashed so badly?

Ash took a moment to himself to think about this new development. Apparently Gary knew something about his father, as did Oak, that they weren't telling him. When he tried to ask his mother, she'd abruptly change the subject, but Ash always assumed it was because the event was a one-night-stand. Perhaps this wasn't the case. He knew Oak had said something about his father a while ago, when Ash was spying on their conversation, but Ash wasn't sure if that was just a mess-up on Oak's part. Now he knew for certain: Gary knew who his father was. And Ash was going to find out, no matter the cost.

Ash walked down the stairs of the Pokemon center and went to heal his Scyther again. Scyther didn't really need it, but better safe than sorry. When Nurse Joy was done, he walked out and went out into the city.

Ash walked into the central plaza, which held the gym, and decided that it was best to get on with the gym battle. He defeated a few trainers at the gym fairly easily, then went on to Brock. Facing Brock was a joke, as while Brock was good, Ash was better. Zoura took care of both Geodude and Onix and was able to sweep through both of them through a smart tactical maneuver by Ash. Eventually, Brock handed him the badge, and Ash left the gym, his goal to becoming a Pokemon master one eighth complete.

**AN: Wow, I wrote this chapter in one sitting. Plotline wise, not much happened here, as it was a pretty short chapter. Basically Ash went to Pewter and found out that Gary knows who Ash's father is, then defeats Brock. No, I'm not planning on having super-powerful Ash, and yes, he will lose a couple battles here or there.**

**Addressing reviews:**

**-kyunaru: The idea for the Poke-sim concept was original, and it came from my playing competitive Pokemon; however, it's not going to be in every chapter. Soon Ash is going to transition more to real battling, but he'll still do the other type of battling.**

**-Lazer Bright: Thanks for the support, but Ash doesn't have a Ratatta, and the unknown Pokemon is Zoura. I'm going off of the idea from the anime that the ability illusion means that a Pokemon can look like any Pokemon previously encountered, and that's why Zoura looks like a Ratatta. Sorry if that didn't come across.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys. Sorry I haven't updated in such a long time. I don't really have an excuse, other than I was busy. But here's the next chapter.**

**Chapter 3**

An eventful series of three weeks later saw Ash in Vermillion City, waiting to face gym leader Lt. Surge. It was a hard and long journey to get to that point, for both Ash's Pokemon and Ash himself, but it was fun, and they were all better off.

After facing Brock, Ash decided that his best course of action would be to stay in Vermillion to train. Originally, Brock wanted to travel with him, as he wanted to explore the Pokemon world, and was looking for someone strong enough to travel with. However, when he found out how frequently Ash would be staying still, he was less enthusiastic. This only reaffirmed Ash's belief that only the best trainers made it through the Pokemon league, and Brock clearly wasn't them. Ash wondered how Brock even became a gym leader.

During the mornings, Ash would work with all three of his Pokemon on strengthening their techniques and making their moves more powerful. Torchic evolved on the third day, pleasing both himself and Ash. Ash knew that Combusken was a powerful Pokemon, and Ash decided to start working on the speed boost ability immediately. He wasn't sure exactly how to do it, but he knew that with enough in-battle experience, Combusken would be skilled enough to pick up the ability. Scyther and Zoura got stronger as well. Ash practiced the strategy he used with Gary again, and Scyther was able to perfect it, leading to a flawless use of rotating Scythes that could easily KO any opponent. Zoura did not learn any new moves, but generally grew stronger. Ash believed that both Scyther and Zoura were close to their evolution point. He needed to evolve Scyther with a metal coat though, as no matter how powerful Scyther was, without a metal coat, Ash wouldn't get a Scizor.

On the fifth day, Ash decided to release his Gyarados, as he felt his Pokemon were up to the challenge. Ash estimated that in terms of raw power, Gyarados was equivalent to Combusken, but all three of his Pokemon had more skill and finesse than his Gyarados. As a result, Zoura was easily able to beat the large monstrous Pokemon, and Gyarados quickly realized that his strength was meaningless compared to Zoura's and Scyther's technique. As a result, Gyarados decided to join Ash and the team willingly, in order to get stronger.

Ash had two fateful encounters during his stay at Pewter. The first was with Lance, arguably the most powerful trainer in the entire world. While there was Cynthia, who might be able to defeat Lance in a few years, and Steven Stone, who at the height of his power, was comparable to Lance, as of now, Lance was the most powerful Pokemon trainer. Ash first saw Lance while dealing with Team Rocket. Lance was on a reconnaissance mission to get information on the Team Rocket headquarters, and was there when Ash was training in the forest. Lance first mistook Ash for a Team Rocket member, and proceeded to thrash him in a Pokemon battle, defeating all four of his Pokemon with just one Dragonite. However, Ash quickly convinced Lance that he wasn't working for Team Rocket, and Lance told him that a Team Rocket base was hidden in the woods. Ash helped the powerful trainer locate the Rocket base, and in a diversionary tactic, battled two Team Rocket grunts in order to let Lance sneak through to the data center. Lance explained that he was on a mission for the G-men, a group of powerful individuals determined to stop organizations such as Team Rocket from stealing Pokemon or doing even worse. He elaborated, saying that he knew Team Rocket was up to something nefarious, worse than anything that anyone else had done before; he just did not know exactly what it was. Lance offered Ash a position on the G-men in the future, as he saw talent in the young trainer, then flew off on his Dragonite, leaving Ash to finish training.

After two weeks, Ash felt confident enough to go to Cerulean, and figured that it was time that he got the Cerulean gym badge. Before he could take his first step out of Pewter, however, he ran into one of the Cerulean gym leaders.

Misty was her name, and she was hot. She had long legs that seemed to be endless, perfect orange colored hair, and a chest - well Ash wouldn't venture there.

It was time to put his womanizing skills that he had acquired after years of watching Gary try and fail with the ladies to the test. While Ash wasn't a vain teenager to say the least, he did believe that he had the looks to land a hot girl like Misty.

_"Are you staring at me?" Misty asked, after Ash had been "glancing" for far too long._

_"Forgive me, madam," Ash said, taking her hand, lifting it up to his mouth and bestowing upon it a small kiss. "It has simply been far too long since I have seen a woman of your elegance and beauty."_

_Misty's face grew redder with every word, as she took her hand back and slapped Ash across the face. "What, do you think I'm easy?" she yelled._

_"No, no, of course not," Ash replied, trying his best to cover up. Clearly she was agitated for some reason, perhaps it was her time of month? Of course, Ash wasn't stupid enough to tell her that._

_"Oh, I know your type. Wannabe master trainers looking for a cheap one-night-stand. You're pathetic," she spat._

_"That's not my type at all. Really, if anything, I would be looking more for a relationship than a one night stand," Ash replied._

_"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say," Misty sarcastically replied._

_"What are you, a misandrist or something? Not all guys are the same." Ash said._

_"Oh, trust me, I know that all guys are the same. I've been at this for just two weeks, and already a douchebag tried to lure me into his bed." Misty said._

_"Do you want to talk about it?" Ash asked._

What started out as a relationship of mutual hatred ended up in mutual respect. Ash found out that Misty had been around water Pokemon her whole life, something he never would have guessed considering her fiery personality. And Misty found Ash to be more caring and compassionate than most trainers, reaffirming her faith in the male gender. It had turned out that Gary had been the one to hit on Misty back in Viridian, and after getting rejected, attempted to use his fame and power as Red Oak's son to convince her to sleep with him. This really bothered Ash, as Gary was practically raping girls by using his father to get them to sleep with him.

Ash found that Misty's goal was to become a world-class water Pokemon trainer and to make the Cerulean gym live up to its expectations. After finding out he was interested in the gym badges, Misty quickly convinced Ash not to stop at Cerulean, saying that the gym was a waste of time, and instead try battling her himself. Ash ended up winning easily with only his Gyarados against a Staryu and Starmie, giving Misty the impression that she had to work harder. Since Misty wanted to learn from a strong trainer, and she had a great impression of Ash, she suggested that the two travel together. Ash was all for it, he was no pervert but the chance to travel with a hot girl seemed like a great opportunity.

Since Cerulean was now out of the question, Ash decided that it would be best to take a small shortcut and head straight to Vermillion. This meant, of course, a travel through the Diglett Cave, a run down underground passage that lead straight from Pewter to Vermillion, wrapping around Kanto as it did so. Once Ash and Misty had gotten all of their gear together, it was a relatively uneventful passage through the cave straight to Vermillion. Of course, the two did see a lot of Diglett, which provided great training for Scyther, Zoura, and Gyarados. All three Pokemon were able to test out some of their newer moves and combos on the ample supply of willing Diglett.

After the day-long trip they took to Vermillion, Ash and Misty docked at the local Pokemon center to rest before Ash's upcoming battle against Surge. Misty had decided to tag along with Ash and face the gyms herself, thinking that if she wanted her water gym to be the best, she had to make sure that she was better than all of the other leaders.

The next day was Ash's battle with Lt. Surge, the electric gym leader of the city. Ash had been noticing injured Pokemon being brought into the Pokemon center by the dozen, Ratattas, Pidgeys, Spearrows, even Charmanders, and Ash assumed that this was the work of Lt. Surge. He vowed to make the old man pay for what he did, victory or not, this was plain Pokemon cruelty. There was a certain point after which a Pokemon battle became one-sided, and victory was ascertained. At that point, most trainers, including Ash, let up instead of continuing to beat down on the opponent. However, it seemed that Surge was not that forgiving a Pokemon trainer, and smacked his opponents hard after they had already lost. Ash was determined to make the man pay.

He had decided the Pokemon that he was going to use for the battle. Zoura, the perfect Pokemon to humiliate the man, for all he had to do was allow Zoura to take the form of a simple Ratatta or Pidgey.

"Well well well, if it isn't another rat here to give me a longer win-streak," Surge said right as Ash walked into the gym.

Ash decided that the most humiliating way to defeat Surge was to make it seem like he was a complete noob. "You don't stand a chance against my Ratatta," Ash replied, trying to put on an overconfident facade. Truthfully, he was fairly confident against Surge; the man seemed to be good at defeating lower-class trainers, but he was certain that if Gary could pull off a victory over him, Ash definitely could as well.

Surge let out a long guffaw and replied, "Well what do you know, the rat has a rat.

"My Ratatta's stronger than any Pokemon that you could have," Ash replied.

"Really. Let's see then. One on one, my Raichu vs your Ratatta." Surge said.

"Bring it," Ash replied, drawing Zoura's Poke-ball. They had gone over the plan before, and Zoura knew to take the form of a Ratatta before the battle.

It was rather interesting that Zoura could communicate with him in a way that the other Pokemon could not. Zoura could take the form of a human and was able to talk in the same way that humans could thus the two were able to communicate. This was very useful, as Zoura could translate what his other Pokemon were trying to say. Through Zoura, he was able to get a sense of how his other Pokemon felt about him. Combusken, while fiercely independent, was equally loyal to him, and would have his back regardless of power. Gyarados still did not trust him yet, but respected his training and the power of his Pokemon. Scyther respected him as a trainer and trusted him with all his heart. And Zoura had an equally close bond.

"Thunderbolt," Surge shouted, bringing Ash out of his reverie.

"Quick attack into sucker punch," Ash countered, knowing that Zoura was just faster than Raichu, so even a sucker punch ordered that much later would still land first and deal serious damage. While Zoura was usually not a Pokemon that knew Quick Attack, any reasonably fast Pokemon could learn the move with a lot of practice, and Scyther had endless patience to teach Zoura.

Zoura drew in close in order to launch a powerful sucker punch that hit Raichu hard. However, Raichu was cohesive enough to shoot out a weaker electric move, Thunder Wave. While it didn't do much damage, it temporarily paralyzed Zoura, forcing it to slow down.

"What steroids have you been feeding this Ratatta?" Surge asked.

Ash growled. It was time to bring in the big guns. Though Zoura's movement speed was reduced through the paralysis, she could still move quicker than the bulky Raichu if she used her Quick Attack. Since Zoura was now paralyzed, this was going to have to be a battle of small skirmishes, with her darting in and out to damage the opposing Pokemon, rather than one short fight, like Ash was hoping.

"Nasty Plot, then Sucker Punch in, Dark Pulse, and Quick Attack out."

While Raichu was recovering, Zoura channeled her energy, greatly boosting her inner powers, and thus her special attack. Ash had worked with Zoura into using special attack to power her normal attacks as well, thus the stat boost translated over to her Sucker Punch.

As soon as Raichu prepped his next attack, Zoura had flashed right behind him, prepared with a Sucker Punch. The immediate combo with the eventual Quick Attack out wore Raichu down again, and as such, Raichu was unable to prepare a future attack.

"Raichu, Double Team," Surge yelled. Immediately the Raichu split into multiple identical copies, and Ash had no idea which was which. That was okay though, as the moment the real Raichu moved, he would be able to tell. Creating the clones was easy, but it took insane amounts of energy to make them move with you, energy that only the strongest Pokemon had.

"Zoura, Nasty Plot again,"

Zoura channeled again, creating an incredible power source within her, while Raichu seemed content to do nothing and wait; at least, that was what Ash saw. Right when Zoura had just finished channeling, Surge called out "Quick Attack," and Raichu slammed into his Pokemon.

But by now, the paralysis was starting to lose effect, and Zoura was getting faster again. This coupled with her incredibly powerful special attack allowed a quick retaliation Quick Attack, which got her in range for a Dark Pulse. And with that Dark Pulse, Raichu was having a hard time standing, and eventually toppled over. Ash had won his closest battle yet against Surge.

"But, but," Surge repeated, clearly stricken that a Ratatta had beaten his prized Raichu. After the battle, Surge was obligated to battle Misty right after, and while Misty would definitely have an extremely hard time defeating his powerful Raichu, his less powerful Magnetron provided a decent match, and Misty's Starmie eventually overpowered the foe, leading to both taking a gym badge from the war veteran.

Ash decided not to taunt the man who was clearly shocked and disappointed that he had lost two gym battles in a row, and instead just walked out of the gym, content with his third badge. He was well on the way to becoming a master trainer.

**AN: So the entire Pewter-Cerulean and Cerulean-Vermillion arcs have been skipped. Does that mean that everything that happens will be skipped as well?**

**Yes and no. Most of the events from Cerulean-Vermillion will be skipped, including the majority of the team rocket encounters, charmander bulbasaur and squirtle, and a bunch of other stuff. However, I have special plans for AJ, and I will be putting Poketech into the story where I can fit it.**


End file.
